1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flexible ceramic bio-implant member and more particularly to a flexible ceramic bio-implant member designed to make effective redintegration of joints, bones, and teeth by flexibly reinforcing the bio-implant member by embedding, in a living hard tissue to be redintegrated by a conventionally known bio-implant member, above all in the medullary cavity, a bundle of a plurality of flexible and elastic fibers unharmful to a living body (hereinafter referred to as a fiber bundled body) such as ceramic fibers, glass fibers, carbon fibers, silicon carbide fibers and other flexible and elastic fibers free from harmful effects on the living body.
2. Prior Art
The present applicant has heretofore provided numerous inventions and devices related with various types of implant members made of a ceramic material which has good affinity with the bony tissue and has no toxicity and which is chemically and physically stable in a living body and also high in mechanical strength. For example, a ceramic screw implant member and a ceramic blade implant member for use in dental treatment, and a ceramic bone joint, a ceramic bone screw, a ceramic hip joint and the like for use in orthopedic treatment may be mentioned as some of the examples of such inventions and devices. The members used in the prior inventions and devices mentioned above, however, have been made solid in their entire configuration by a close or a porous material or a close and porous material, and consequently the members of the type described are not free from that weakness in impulsive force which is a drawback inherent in ceramics nor free from brittleness due to paucity of flexibility. This fact provides a possibility that the implant members, when used within or around the bone, may be unable to follow the deformation of the bone due to the movement of the human body, depending upon the region in which the implants are used, and may be broken or may damage the bone around the members due to microcracks liable to be produced on the surface of the members themselves, which possibility, in turn, constitutes a major factor in making the members relatively restrictive in their range of applicability.